Pics of the week: Madurai's female funeral undertaker and more

Here is a selection of some of the best pictures clicked by New Indian Express photographers.

Folk artistes perform the Bethala dance during Rathotsavam after the third day of Shivaratri, in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. (Photo | P Ravindra Babu, EPS) 

Chief Personnel Officer of Town Station handing over a gun to CPO Sunitha C K, on Women's Day in Kozhikode, Kerala. (Photo | Manu R Mavelil, EPS)

A woman being shooed away by the cops from the premises of the newly inaugurated Women's Safety Wing building in Hyderabad, Telangana. (Photo| S Senbagapandiyan, EPS)

84-year-old Mariammal from Bykara in Tamul Nadu's Madurai stoking a funeral pyre. She is an undertaker at Pasumalai cremation ground. She staked her claim in a man's stronghold after braving many odds. (Photo | EPS)

A flock of pigeons fly together at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru. (Express| Pushkar V, EPS)

On International Women's Day, Deputy Commandant Anuradha Shukla with fellow Deputy Commandant Shirin Chandran aboard the Coast Guard Hovercraft H 197 on the beach near Napier Bridge in Chennai, Tamil nadu. (Photo| D Sampathkumar, EPS)

A boy helping visually-challenged persons reach different offices in the Collectorate premises in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. (Photo | K K Sundar, EPS)

A woman cleaning paddy near Madurai, Tamil Nadu. (Photo| K K Sundar, EPS)

Army personnel show their eqestrian skills during combined display by OTA Cadets and Indian Army Officers at Officers Training Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. (Photo | Debdatta Mallick, EPS)